News: Commercial Vehicles

2021-10-23

Komatsu To Expand Autonomous Truck Operation in Brazil

In line with global trends of automatization, Komatsu is expanding its autonomous Truck operation in Brazil. It already has six trucks operating in the mining complex of Carajás (PA) and other four trucks will be introduced this year. Komatsu says the autonomous driving technology brings 40% savings on tires and brakes, 13% on overall maintenance and 15% on productivity, considering the elimination of stops for driver changing and rest.

Source: M&T    Read The Article

PSR Analysis: Carajás is the biggest mining complex in the world. It makes sense that the leading edge of the technology is being used here. These trucks are a reality, and they will progressively replace trucks driven by people in the next few years in mining complexes such as Carajas and other big ones in Brazil and South America. PSR

Fabio Ferraresi is Director, Business Development, South America, for Power Systems Research

Q3 2021 Truck Production Index (PSR-TPI) Falls 10.7%

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St. Paul, MN — The Power Systems Research Truck Production Index (PSR-TPI) dropped from 131 to 117, or 10.7%, for the three-month period ended Sept. 30, 2021, from Q2 2021. The year-over-year (Q3 2020 to Q3 2021) loss for the PSR-TPI was 141 to 117, or 17%.

Except for China, all regions are expected to experience solid commercial vehicle demand growth this year and into 2022.  Chinese heavy truck demand is expected to decline this year primarily due to the implementation of the China VI emission regulations that adds cost to the vehicles but no significant improvement in fuel economy.

The PSR-TPI measures truck production globally and across six regions: North America, China, Europe, South America, Japan & Korea and Emerging Markets.

This data comes from OE Link™, the proprietary database maintained by Power Systems Research. PSR

Jim Downey is Vice President-Global Data Products, and Chris Fisher is Senior Commercial Vehicle Analyst at Power Systems Research.

2021-10-03

Second Wave of COVID-19 Hits India Commercial Vehicle Market

Motorindia-May_2021Download
Aditya Kondejkar

The second wave of COVID-19 has put the brakes on a rebound in India’s commercial vehicle market, reports Aditya Kondejkar, Power Systems Research Analyst for South Asia Operations, in the May 2021 issue of Motorindia magazine.

Kondejkar notes that the second wave of the pandemic has caused shortages of semiconductors and steel as well as weaker consumer demand. These forces have pushed commercial vehicle production down nearly 60% month-on-month (MoM) in April.

Kondejkar points out that the India CV market witnessed a strong performance in 2018 with more than 1.13 million
units produced, owing in large part to GST implementation and replacement demand. In 2019, however, the Indian CV market began shrinking as it faced headwinds from revised axle load norms, vehicle over-capacity, BS-VI transition, and a liquidity crunch.

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2021-09-26

Mercedes Announces BEV Bus for Brazil

Fabio Ferraresi
Fabio Ferraresi

Mercedes says it has committed an investment of US$ 20 million for the launch of the eO500U, the first electric bus by the German OEM, the market leader in Brazil. Roberto Leoncini, Sales Director said that Mercedes opted for beginning the electrification of the MHV segment by the Bus products because it has higher impact on the population.

One of the key drivers for this launch is the new legislation for São Paulo city that aims to convert 50% of the fleet to electric by 2027. This means 7,000 electric buses will be sold by 2027. Sales forecast starts with 50 to 150 units by 2022.

Source: Automotive Business     Read The Article

PSR Analysis: With new legislation, OEMs rush for e-bus chassis launch to keep market share. Meanwhile, BYD celebrates the opportunity to grow with the lack of competitors, but it needs an improved in business model and strategic aspects to grow. PSR

Fabio Ferraresi is Director-Business Development, South America, for Power Systems Research

Eletra Converts Trucks and Buses to Electric in Brazil

Eletra started converting Trucks and Buses from 3.5 to 54 Tons for the range of 50km to 150km by replacing the actual Powertrain (ICE, Transmission, Axels,) and suspension with batteries, electric drive and new suspension. The main benefits for the approach is to provide 30% less cost than a new Electric Truck and shorten the timing to meet sustainability targets, since the retrofit is done quickly. Companies like Ambev (AB-Inbev) announced 102 trucks retrofitted with Eletra.

Source: M&T    Read The Article

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Hyundai Motor To Convert Heavy-Duty Trucks and Buses To Hydrogen and Electric Vehicles

FAR EAST: SOUTH KOREA REPORT

The Hyundai Motor Group has announced its “Hydrogen Vision 2040,” which states that 2040 will be the first year of the popularization of hydrogen energy. The company plans to launch new models of all commercial vehicles, including heavy-duty trucks and buses, with hydrogen-electric and electric vehicles. The goal is to reduce the price of hydrogen-electric vehicles to the level of general electric vehicles by 2030 by developing a next-generation hydrogen fuel cell system that is inexpensive and has good performance.

The Hyundai Motor Group will not launch any new commercial vehicles powered by internal combustion engines in the future. It plans to mass-produce hydrogen-electric trucks in the country in the first half of next year and plans to apply hydrogen fuel cells to all of its commercial vehicle lineup by 2028.

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New Russia Electric Transport Plan To Cost US$ 8 Billion

Maxim Sakov
Maxim Sakov

The Russian government has approved a new plan for electric transport development into 2030 that will be implemented in two stages. At the end of the first stage, the plan calls for production of at least 25,000 electric vehicles and the launching of 9,400 charging stations.

By 2030, 10% of all new vehicles should be electrical, and the number of charging stations should increase to 72,000. In Russia, by 2030 it’s planned to launch production of accumulator battery cells, and to build 1,000 hydrogen fuel stations for vehicles.

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Volvo To Produce Trucks in China in 2022

Jack Hao
Jack Hao

Volvo Trucks expects to start production of the new heavy-duty Volvo FH, Volvo FM and Volvo FMX trucks in Taiyuan for local customers in China late next year.  Volvo Trucks has agreed to acquire a subsidiary of China’s Jiangling Motors Co to produce trucks for the local market starting late next year. JMC Heavy Duty Vehicle Co, which includes a manufacturing site in Taiyuan, capital of North China’s Shanxi province, will be purchased for $120.4 million (780 million yuan), said the Swedish truck maker.

Source:  China Daily     Read The Article

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Ford, Argo AI, and Walmart Plan Autonomous Vehicle Delivery Service in Three U.S. Cities

John Krzesicki
John-Krzesicki

The way we deliver products from point A to point B is changing. This transformation is creating new partnerships, with implications affecting more than just the transportation industry.

Our team at Power Systems Research provides market intelligence to companies working in and around transportation and mobility functions.

Ford Motor Company, Argo AI, and Walmart are working together to launch an autonomous vehicle delivery service in Miami, Austin, Texas, and Washington, D.C. — Walmart’s first multi-city autonomous delivery collaboration in the U.S. The last-mile delivery service will use Ford self-driving test vehicles equipped with the Argo AI Self-Driving System to deliver Walmart orders.

The collaboration brings together a self-driving technology provider with an automotive manufacturer able to integrate that technology with vehicles at scale, plus the world’s largest retailer.

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2021-09-03

Automechanika Fair Shows CV Parts

Maxim Sakov
Maxim Sakov

MOSCOW–MIMS, also called Automechanika, is a trade show dedicated to automotive parts and components, automotive electronics and service/repair.

The fair was conducted this year at the Moscow Expocenter July 23 to 26.

Automechanika is a small local event. However, this year there were about 400 participants from 18 countries. The biggest delegations were from Russia and Turkey. There were companies from UK, India, Spain, Italy, Iran, UAE and other countries.

Among largest foreign participants were AJUSA, AZARD, AVS, ACPS automotive, BREMBO, BSG, CARVILLE, Conex distribution, Fenox, General Motors,  JP GROUP, KANN Group, KRAFT, KRAFTTECH, KRONER, LIQUI MOLY, Mutlu, Parts-Mall, RIVAL / MICHELIN, SANGSIN BRAKE, SKYWAY.

Russian companies were presented by GAZ Group, UGMK and many smaller component makers and trade houses.

Traditionally, this fair relates to the passenger cars segment. However, this year exhibitors showed parts for heavy duty vehicles and even construction/mining machines. PSR